


Doesn't Count

by bessemerprocess



Category: Pundit & Broadcast Journalist RPF (US), Real News RPF, The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: College, Community: kink_bingo, Footnotes, M/M, Mirrors and Doubles, implied internalized homophobia, typewriters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2017-11-10 03:19:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/bessemerprocess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will McAvoy is nineteen and his whole college career has been spent competing with Keith Olbermann.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doesn't Count

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sarken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarken/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, sarken!

“Mr. McAvoy, partner up with Mr. Olbermann,” the professor says, and Will manages not to groan out loud through sheer willpower, and the certain knowledge that Keith won’t let it go if he does. Keith Olbermann is an asshole like that. The professors all think its funny to pair up the geniuses, too young for their own good and too arrogant for everyone else’s, and so Will has gone through his entire degree forced to work with Keith.

It would go better if they agreed about anything. Keith is a Democrat and Will is a Republican. Keith believes in oxford commas, and Will thinks they are the Devil’s own invention. Keith drinks beer and Will drinks whiskey. The only thing they agree on is that the Yankees are the best team in baseball, all their other similarities are superficial.

The professors never buy it.

Dr. Danhauser points out that they both are driven, competitive in a way that brings out the best and the worst in each other, but he’s trying to get them to actually finish their Journalistic Ethics project without any punches being thrown.

Dr. Abbott points out that they are both in love with the English language, but she’s the one who recites Shakespeare and Audre Lorde at the drop of a hat.

Dr. Lee points out the they are both elitist pricks, but it’s after finals and he’s pretty drunk at the time.

Will tells himself he’s nothing like Keith, but that doesn’t stop him from staring sometimes when Keith isn’t looking, trying to see what everyone else does. It isn’t until much later he figures out he should have been looking at himself.

It's midnight the night their Capstone project is due, and Will has been up for two straight days now. Keith has too, but you wouldn’t know it to look at him. His eyes are still bright, and his smile is still in place, and Will really wants to know how much of his soul Keith sold and to whom, because Will is interested in that deal. No one should be allowed to look so good after forty-eight hours without sleep.

“It’s done,” Keith says, his fingers finally stilling on the typewriter keys, as he leans back to grin at Will. Just this once, Will decides, he's not going to be an ass, and so he smiles back.

“Done?” Will says, staring at the footnotes over Keith’s shoulder. There are so many footnotes, Will never, ever wants to see a footnote again. Half the crumpled pages on the floor are there because of errors in the footnotes.

“Done,” Keith reaffirms. “You want a beer?” He stands and wanders over to the dorm fridge shoved up next to his roommate’s desk.

Fuck it, Will thinks. “Yeah,” he says.

Keith grins that maniacal grin of his. “Come and get it,” he says, and waves the beer over Will’s head.

Fuck that, Will thinks again, and shoves Keith down onto his room mate’s bed. His plan is to wrestle the beer out of Keith’s hands, and for a moment that’s all this is, two guys wrestling over a beer. Except, Keith pins him to the bed, and suddenly Will’s plan is in pieces and he’s kissing Keith like he is storming the beaches of Normandy, like Keith is the only port in a storm.

He’s punch drunk, that’s what it is, and Will waits for Keith to haul back and bash his face in. He waits, and he waits, and Keith draws back, and Will tenses. There’s no fist though, just Keith’s mouth on his own, desperate and greedy. Keith has always been a greedy bastard, and right now, his hands shoving Will’s pants down to get to his cock, well, Will doesn’t really mind.

Will spits in his palm, and follows suit. It’s rough and frenetic, but they both get off. For a second Will thinks its going to be weird, that Keith is going to want to talk, or have feelings or something, but instead, he just uses his boxers as a towel, and then hands Will the beer that started all this in the first place.

Will takes it. “Thanks,” and decides this doesn't count. It's finals week, and he's going to graduate and never see Keith again. Will is fine and the beer is good and nothing happened.

Keith just nods, and drinks his own beer.


End file.
